When reacting acid chlorides with amines by known methods, those skilled in the art may be faced with certain concerns. It is generally desirable to conduct the acylation reaction using simple, practicable, high yielding, and environmentally friendly methods. In instances where the acylated amine product may be used as an intermediate in forming other compounds, additional criteria for the acylation reaction may arise. For example, classical Schotten-Baumann acylation conditions are impracticable for the acylation of prolinamide because both the starting material and the products are highly water-soluble and sparingly soluble in organic solvents. Although epoxypropane may possibly be used as an HCl scavenger in acylation reactions, epoxypropane has a low boiling point and may be considered environmentally unacceptable. Epoxypropane may also present an unacceptable carcinogenic risk. Finally, acylation with epoxypropane as the scavenger presents separate problems as the reaction in tetrahydrofuran is heterogeneous.